


no one dared disturb the sound of silence

by ironmanisalive



Series: To Build A Home [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Brief Mention of Suicide, F/M, Gen, Ghosts, Harley Keener is Tony Stark's Adopted Child, Haunted House, Hurt Peter Parker, Not that scary though, Peter Parker and Harley Keener are twin brothers, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Adopted Child, stay safe friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26163202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironmanisalive/pseuds/ironmanisalive
Summary: The Stark family is on vacation in Vermont when Peter starts getting mysterious bruises and seeing things throughout the house. Will they get out in time?
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: To Build A Home [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1899928
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	no one dared disturb the sound of silence

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for a horror fic from i-am-irondad on Tumblr (go check them out) and wanted to write one. I watched all of the Conjuring movies to prepare. I had this about 90% completed before I watched Insidious and really wanted to write Harley in, so he's here too! I realized that writing horror is really hard, so this isn't that good.  
> There is a brief mention of a murder-suicide and some mild violence. Stay safe!!

There were two things that Peter Stark knew for sure: he hadn’t properly slept in three days and the cabin they were spending Christmas at was haunted.   
They’d been staying at the small cabin in Vermont since Peter and his twin brother Harley got home from their first semester at MIT. They were both a little disappointed that they couldn’t stay home and work on Harley’s secret Iron Lad suit, but they went along with the vacation because Morgan seemed really excited. Peter wishes they’d said something.   
The first night, Peter slept like a brick. He had thought that finals week was an overexaggerated thing, but all of the rumors were true. It sucked ass.   
They spent the entire day watching corny Christmas movies and eating junk food. All throughout the day, though, Peter felt off. Like something was outside the windows looking in at the small family.   
“You good, Pete?” Dad asked as Peter was up looking out the window again.   
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thought I sensed something is all.”   
“Sensed something?” Mom sounded worried.   
“It was probably just a deer or something, it’s nothing.”   
Peter sat back down and finished watching Elf. He pretended not to notice his parents’ silent conversation from either side of him. 

That night, he woke to scratching through the walls and Morgan talking to someone in her room next door. He got up to investigate.   
“Morgan?” He asked, walking into her room.   
“Yeah, Petey?” She was sitting in a small chair at a small table rather than in bed, as she should have been.   
“Who are you talking to?”   
“Elijah! He’s my new friend. He lives here.”   
Peter nodded, knowing Morgan’s habit of inventing imaginary friends all too well. “Well it’s late so I think it's time for you and Elijah to go to sleep.”   
“Okay,” she turned to the empty chair across from her. “Petey says we have to sleep now, Elijah. Goodnight!”   
Peter tucked her into her bed and returned to his. The scratching was still in the walls, but he chose to ignore it and look into it tomorrow. He slept very restlessly and dreamed of little boys covered in blood. 

The next day, Mom took them all skiing. Peter usually spent more time in the lodge than on the slopes because of his thermoregulation problem, but he wore the suit underneath his parka with the heater on and was a lot warmer. He helped Morgan down the bunny hills while Mom and Dad went out on the bigger ones, Harley flitting between the two groups. He was a better skier than Peter.   
Morgan told him stories about kindergarten that he’d missed while he was in college. He listened with rapt attention and found himself forgetting all about the weird dreams and scratching sounds he’d heard in the night and really enjoying the time spent with his siblings.   
Morgan took a nap when they got back to the cabin, Pepper went to make dinner, and the boys settled on the couch to play card games.   
“You’ve been quiet this week, kiddo. What’s eating you?” Tony asked Peter while he shuffled the deck.   
“Nothing. I’ve just been really tired. Finals week is actually the worst.”   
Tony chuckled. “You’re not wrong about that.”   
“It was the worst experience of my life thus far,” Harley quipped.   
“Dude, we literally got kidnapped two years ago.”   
“And finals week was worse than that. Keep up with me, Pete.”   
Peter laughed and started to pull off his hoodie. His tee shirt underneath rode up, revealing his bare back.   
“Woah, kid, what’s on your back? Did you get that today?”   
“Huh?” Peter pulled his tee shirt back up and looked. There was a huge bruise spanning across the small of his back. “What the hell?”   
Pepper appeared in the living room looking concerned. “Where did that come from, Peter?”   
“I-I have no idea.”   
“Did you crash today? Or fall out of bed or something?”   
Peter shook his head. “I have no idea.”   
“Doesn’t it hurt?”   
“I honestly didn’t even know I had it.”   
Mom and Dad looked extremely worried, but didn’t press any further. Peter eventually drifted off on the couch with his head in Tony’s lap. Tony ran his fingers through his son’s hair, worried.   
***   
The next couple days went about the same, but this time Peter couldn’t fall asleep in his room. The only time he slept was during the day cuddled up next to one or both of his parents. He could hear Morgan talking to Elijah all night, the scratching in the walls, and his parents talking about his increasing number of bruises.   
Oh yeah, he’d gotten more bruises on his chest, back, and arms. They didn’t heal as fast as his bruises normally did, either, so by the end of the week he was a black and blue mess. He was also pale and very obviously sleep-deprived. He’d even overheard his parents asking Harley if they’d been fighting.   
On December 23rd, he discovered something while playing hide and seek with Morgan, Harley, and Dad. He was crawling across the ceiling and latched onto a part of the ceiling that fell off, revealing a dark and dusty attic. As he lay sprawled out on the floor, he swore he saw something move up there. Tony appeared after hearing the crash and immediately slid next to Peter to make sure he was okay.   
“I’m fine, Dad, but look.” He pointed at the attic.   
“Huh. The website didn’t say this place had an attic.”   
“I’m going up there.”   
“The hell you are, kid. I don’t want you up there until I know it’s safe.”   
“I’ll wear the suit.”   
“If you’re going up there, then so is Iron Man.”   
Peter and Tony looked at each other for a moment, arguing with only their eyes, before Peter relented.   
“Fine.”   
Harley showed up then. “I’m coming, too!”   
Peter and Tony climbed and flew up into the attic, respectively, and Harley followed close behind on a ladder.   
The attic was creepy. Tony put his suit on sentry mode after making sure it was structurally sound and they wouldn’t fall through the floor and they explored.   
There were a few boxes draped in sheets, nothing special. Peter was looking at a couple boxes when he heard Harley from the ladder.   
“Holy shit.”   
Peter and Tony both followed Harley’s gaze to see what he noticed. There was a noose hanging from the ceiling.   
“That’s not creepy at all,” Peter said.   
“Yeah, we’re not coming back up here. Let’s go, boys.”   
They put the attic door back in place and made sure it was secure before going into the kitchen, where Morgan and Pepper were having lunch.   
"Anything interesting up there?”   
Peter looked to Tony, silently asking him to answer while Harley ignored the conversation in favor of grabbing chips.   
“Just some dust, spiders, the usual old attic stuff.”   
“Ew, spiders!”   
Morgan hated spiders. Peter hadn’t seen any spiders and only a few cobwebs, but he knew that Tony was putting Morgan off the idea of going up there.   
They finished lunch with a normal conversation and retired to the living room to watch another Christmas movie.   
About halfway through Christmas Vacation, Peter was surprised to feel his mom’s cold hand on his forehead. He looked at her questioningly.   
“You feel a little warm, honey. Are you coming down with something?”   
“I don’t think so, I just haven’t been sleeping too good here.”   
“Maybe we’ll go home a little earlier than planned. You might be able to sleep better in your own bed.”   
Peter sat up, shaking his head. “No, Mom, we don’t need to change all our plans just for me. I’m fine! We’re having fun and we shouldn’t leave early just because I'm a little tired.”   
Pepper put her arm around Peter’s shoulders and eased him back into his position against her shoulder. “Okay, then, we’ll stay. But if you start to feel worse, tell me. Your health is more important than any vacation.” 

He fell asleep on the couch and his parents must have left him because when he woke up, the house was dark. When he got up to go to his bed, he saw the outline of a person walking towards Morgan’s room. He thought it was Harley, but wanted to make sure.   
“Harley!” The shadowy figure stopped and turned at his whisper-shout, showing a menacing grin and piercing eyes that looked almost yellow. Definitely not his brother.   
“Hey!” He yelled this time.   
Peter kept running after it but it disappeared right before he got to it. He stood in the hallway breathing heavily and looking around for where the person could have gone.   
“What the hell?” He muttered.   
All of a sudden, his spidey-senses alerted him of something behind him and he hit the deck before the repulsor blast from his dad’s gauntlet could hit him.   
“Shit! Peter are you okay?”   
He got up from the floor and dusted himself off. “I’m good.”   
“What were you yelling about? I thought you were an intruder!”   
“I thought I saw someone in the hallway. It must have just been my tired eyes or something.”   
Tony held up his watch. “FRIDAY, is there anyone in the house besides us?”   
The AI responded through the watch. “No, boss. However, I am detecting an unusual amount of energy in Morgan’s room.”   
“What does that mean?”   
“I don’t know, Boss. I just sense more energy than normal.”   
They all ran into her room to see...Morgan. Sleeping. Nothing wrong or out of place or anything.   
“Are there still unusual amounts of energy in here?”   
“No, boss. Is stopped just as you entered.”   
Pepper went to check on Morgan. She made sure she was breathing, checked her pulse, and felt her forehead.   
“She’s fine, Tony.”   
“Is anyone else getting creepy vibes from this house or is it just me and Pete?” Harley asked from the doorway.   
Peter stuttered, “I-I’m not getting creepy vibes from the house at all. It’s fine.”   
“Then why do you look like shit, Peter? And the bruises? That’s some horror movie type shit. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been waking up in different places. I thought I was sleepwalking or something but now I’m not so sure.”   
“You’ve been waking up in different places? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”   
“You were already worried about Peter. Hell, I’m worried about him, too, that’s why I thought I was sleepwalking again.”   
Pepper stood up straighter, putting on her CEO/professional mom voice. “We’ll talk about that tomorrow, Harley. I don’t think that we should be having this conversation right now. We’re all very tired and probably making it up. Let’s all go back to bed and talk more in the morning.”   
She ushered everyone out of the room before tucking Morgan back in. Peter and Harley returned to Harley’s room across the hall, neither one intending to fall asleep.   
“You’ve been moving around at night? I haven’t heard anything and I haven’t been sleeping.” Peter asked his brother.   
“That’s why I don’t think it’s sleepwalking. I think there’s something else in this house. Something that has to do with that sketchy-ass noose we found in the attic.”   
“I saw something move up there when I fell off the ceiling. And my spider-senses have been freaking out since we got here.”   
“I’m gonna google the house. You keep an eye on Morgan’s room.”   
Peter nodded and settled against the headboard, eyes not leaving Morgan’s door, while Harley settled next to him with his laptop. 

Harley didn’t mean to fall asleep, but he must have because he woke suddenly in an empty bed and daylight creeping in through the window.   
“Pete?”   
He went into the kitchen, checking bedrooms and bathrooms on the way, and saw his parents and Morgan, but no sign of his brother.   
“Have you guys seen Peter? He’s not in bed anymore and I didn’t see him in any other rooms.”   
“He was asleep when we peeked in at you this morning,” Tony responded. “I didn’t see him leave your room.”   
Morgan was looking at the corner of the living room as if listening to someone standing there. “Elijah says he’s in the attic.”   
FRIDAY spoke up from Tony’s watch. “There is a heat signature in the attic, Boss. I’m 99% sure it matches Peter.”   
“Shit. I’m going to get him. You guys stay here.”   
He called a suit before climbing into the attic. Harley ran into his room, ignoring his mom’s calls to stay there, to grab his computer.   
When he was researching the house, he read about a murder-suicide that took place in the house nearly 100 years earlier. A young man that had choked his brother Elijah to death before hanging himself in the attic while their parents were sleeping.   
“Look at this, Mom,” he handed her his computer. Her face paled while she read the article.   
Tony returned carrying Peter, who was still asleep, and set him down on the sofa nearest the fireplace.   
“He’s freezing. I can’t get him to wake up.”   
Pepper ran to get blankets, Tony to light the fire, and Harley dropped to his knees next to Peter.   
“Pete?”   
He noticed purple bruises creeping above the neckline of Peter’s hoodie and pulled it down to see dark, ugly bruises wrapping around Peter’s neck.   
“Oh, Peter.”   
Pepper, upon seeing the bruises, leaned forward to make sure Peter was breathing. She sighed in relief when she felt puffs of air leaving his mouth.   
Tony started rubbing his sternum. “C’mon, kid, it’s time to wake up. You're scaring us.”   
“Elijah said he won’t wake up.” Morgan was still looking at the corner.   
“Elijah can shut the hell up,” Harley growled while tapping Peter’s cheeks.   
Peter sucked in a harsh gasp of air before his eyes sprung open. He dove into his family’s arms, shaking, and stayed there for a while. After they pulled apart from the hug, Peter looked at Harley with wide eyes.   
“It was you, Har,” his voice was gruff and scratchy. It sounded painful. “You dragged me up there, but it wasn’t you. You were way too strong. I couldn’t even break your grip.”   
“But if I did it, then why didn’t I hang myself?”   
Peter shrugged, looking haunted. “I don’t know but I’m glad you didn’t.”   
“Me, too. Now we’re leaving. Grab all of your stuff quickly. Anything left behind can be replaced.” Tony hugged his family once more before sending them all off.   
Peter had a cough for the next few days, but all of his bruises wore off the minute he left the cabin. Pepper called the agency that rented it out and told them the backstory and that they should leave the cabin alone. They agreed, after seeing pictures of Peter’s bruises, and the family returned to the Tower in New York City to celebrate Christmas without ghosts.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like writing Harley, so I decided to turn this AU into a series! I'm currently working on the first story that starts with the adoption of the twins (not mentioned at all in this) and go from there. I'm excited for this!!  
> Also I'm on Tumblr @ironmanisalive so come yell at me!


End file.
